Overhead camera rig

nelson

nelson

Member
I have a difficult shot, but I'm sure there is a way to do this. I want to move straight down a large well for about 15 feet, but still be able to tilt the camera when it reaches the bottom.

A jib or crane arcs so they won't work. Using some type of cable system on pulleys is the only thing I can think of.

What would Hollywood use?

Thanks,

Kent Nelson
 
A vertical dolly would be a good solution.

You could also possibly use a Technocrane mounted at an abnormal angle.

- Mikko
 
Easy...

Just tie a rope to the legs of your steadicam op and lower him down the well.

I am sure that Mikko wouldn't mind getting this gig! :evil:
 
Thanks for the quick responses.

I'm not sure what a vertical dolly is, but I'm guessing you would have rails going down into the well.

"I would do it in post, either in 3d or using a nested zoom. How long will the shot be." The well is supposed to be a ridiculous 100 feet, so I already plan on building a virtual set extension for the top part of the well.

What is a nested zoom? I don't want to zoom since I really need the sense of traveling down the well in 3d space.

Thanks,
 
.. A vertical dolly is exactly what it sounds like. It's a dolly that can travel vertically on rails. - Basically it's an elevator for the camera.

You could probabaly even build some sort of rig to do the job. It woudl involve a vertical track, a dolly/carriage that moved along it, and a rope running over a pully at teh top and then out horizontally where a grip can walk towards/away from the rig to move the camera.

It may even be possible to use a soley suspended rig without solid rails if the shot isn't paticulatly violent.


.. Or you could get Divecam.. http://www.garrettcam.com/divecam.shtml .. or at least some inspiration from it. It's a textbook example of a vertical dolly - and it's a whopping 63 feet long!


Thinking out loud here, but I think I've seen lightweght dollies that can travel along a ladder both on top of or underslung. - If that's the case, then they should work vertically too with the adition of control rope.



.. Is this a real well? Or is it a built set? If it's a set, you coudl also build it with a removable wall in section and use a crane/jib on a dolly. As you boom the crane down to level, you dolly it back causing the camera to travel directly downwards. - Then you jsut have to figure out how to pull out sections of the well set to allow teh jib arm to pass as the camera goes lower.



- Mikko
 
You could also tie 2 cables to your camera (make a bracket so they are spaced evenly) and a third cable on the back for the tilt, mount 2 large pulleys extending out over the center of the well. Then do your first shot without the pulley's there and go into the well a couple feet, then mount your pulleys and basically continue the shot (line up later in post). Lower the cam slowly and then tilt with the third cable when you reach the bottom, I'm sure with a few tries it would look pretty fluid.
 
I think the tracks would be an issue, unless you digitaly removed them in post. I think pmpworks may be on the right track, except that using ropes may allow swinging and twisting. And how do you plan on lighting this shot?
 
...you coudl always move the rails...

Maybe something like this: Attach the camera to the end of a board, and to perform the shot, lower the whole board down into the well. If you have a nice flat surface for the board to slide agaisnt so it slides down moothly would help, but as there is very little weight on the contact surface (it's just a guide), you probabaly wouldn't even need wheels.

- Mikko
 
I was thinking about the swaying, may be possible to eliminate by adding a third pulley and use it with the third cable and hold onto all three while lowering. Also if you have the ability to overcrank the footage you could do it a little fast for a smoother action. Lighting would be an issue, maybe mount one on the camera?
 
Instead of just using a board, maybe make a gallows type setup. Instead of a rope though, you would have a pilot hole in the beam, and use a length of pipe with a jointed segment at the end attached to the cam. Use your rope to raise the camera's angle.

But I'm thinking it would be best to do it with a 3D progrqam.
 
Instead of just using a board, maybe make a gallows type setup. Instead of a rope though, you would have a pilot hole in the beam, and use a length of pipe with a jointed segment at the end attached to the cam. Use your rope to raise the camera's angle.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea to. He could always do like hollywood and build a set, leave camera stationary (position on it's side) and dolly a fake half well along a track in front of it, it would be easier to light.
 
Oh no kidding .. You totally could build a fake well set - into a big conduit for example. Even just put the camera on a Jib on a dolly (to get far enoguh ahead of the track) and dolly on in horizontally.

.. Of course if your shot requires there to be water at the bottom of the well, you are screwed. :nads:


- Mikko ... water will reflect the camera anyway, so there's another problem.
 
More brainstorming... (this is a fun creative problem, I wish I had to perform the shot)


You can also have the camera mounted 'hanging' (by a solid mount) below whatever rig you use to do the lowering.

For example: You could mount the camera to teh bottom of a big metal bar/pipe/beam/whatever. And attach that beam to the forks of a forklift truck.
The forlift parked next to the well would lower the forks down from 15 feet up to ground level - meaning that the camera, suspended below would move down 15 feet into the well.


Whatever you do, it's goign to be a big rig.

- Mikko
 
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